Blood Moon
by Okami SonicChaos
Summary: At one time, the Moon Tribe held a massive civilization with technology advance beyond anything the world had seen. Just who were they, and why did they vanish? One-shot exploring the mysterious past of the Waka and the Moon Tribe.


The moon had not always been grey and lifeless.

Once, long ago, in a time before the human world knew of evil, Earth's neighbor had been a vibrant, green paradise, with natural beauty rivaling even that of the Celestial Plain. Appropriately, the people of that time came to call it the Lunar Plain.

The beauty of the Lunar Plain seemed to pass on to its people. A race of tall, majestic human-like beings, all of them with long, flowing golden hair that seemed to radiate moonlight wherever they walked, the people that called themselves the Moon Tribe fit perfectly with their world of beauty.

The people of this tribe seemed to be blessed with many gifts. They all had the gift of immortality, never seeming to age past their prime, though they could still be slain by conventional weaponry. Some of them were naturally gifted warriors, possessing grace and agility that allowed them to outmaneuver any foe. A rare few possessed the ability of sight, the power to glimpse into the future itself.

But what set the Moon Tribe apart from any other species in the known world was their intellect. Even the youngest of their tribe seemed to possess great creativity and ingenuity, and with these tools, the people of the moon soon developed an advanced civilization, possessing technology far beyond that of anyone else in the known universe.

The Moon Tribe's immortality seemingly amplified these gifts even further. Without the limitation of time, the people of the Lunar Plain were able to dedicate an eternity to their craft. Their greatest soldiers came to possess thousands of years of experience, having mastered more forms of combat than any mortal being could ever hope to manage. Their scientists and engineers were able to spend ages studying their fields, and pass down their knowledge to an infinite number of generations below them.

With these gifts, the Moon Tribe soon spread their civilization across the moon, creating a kingdom never seen before in the history of creation. At its center sat Lumière Dorée, their first and greatest city. As the people of the moon spread across the Lunar Plain, their capitol sat and grew, a shining beacon of light and a living embodiment of the skill and knowledge of its residents.

Within this great city lived the Moon Tribe's greatest warrior, a man known as Yoshitomo. In his prime, he had been the supreme general of the tribe's army, and under his watch, the empire had been a safe haven for thousands of years. Eventually, though, Yoshitomo grew tired of command and stepped down, choosing instead to raise a family with his wife Tokiwa while passing on his experience and knowledge to new generations of warriors.

Yoshitomo and Tokiwa came to have two children. Their oldest, Ishanari, came to follow in her father's footsteps, showing great fighting promise as she grew up. For her twelfth birthday, her father had a beautiful silver katana forged for her as he began to teach his daughter the ways of the sword. She named the blade Kutone, and grew into a fearsome warrior in her own right over the next few years under her father's tutelage.

Her younger brother, Ushiwaka, however, possessed far different gifts. Even at only a few years old, he would fall into unexplainable nightmares, each one proving to be true with frightening accuracy. The child possessed foresight beyond even that of the Moon Tribe's greatest prophets.

One night, the young prophet, only five years old, woke in a screaming fit of terror. Yoshitomo listened in horror as his son described the death of their world. Of an eight-headed beast that would raze their beautiful home to the ground, who would slaughter their kind utterly.

Panicked, Yoshitomo brought this news to the Elder Council. Though the visions were only that of a young child, even the Moon Tribe's leaders knew of Ushiwaka's prophetic abilities. For days, they argued, trying to find a solution to the coming danger. Some wished to strengthen the military and defenses, to entrench themselves in Lumière Dorée and fight off the beast. Others wished to reach out to the other races for assistance, to fight off the oncoming threat with the help of the mortals and Celestials. And others still wished to abandon the Plain entirely, to build as many ships as possible and leave their home to its fate.

Their discussions dragged on for days, and then weeks. Every proposed solution had a hole in it. They could not fight the beast on their own without even knowing its strengths or what it was. The Celestials had grown suspicious of the Moon Tribe's technology and military advancements and would not be eager to come to their aid. And even with their current technology, there was no way to build enough ships to carry all of their people to safety.

But then, as if in answer to their dilemma, a mysterious figure in dark armor appeared. He introduced himself as Yami, the last of a faraway race who had been all but slaughtered by the same creature who now threatened the Lunar Plain, and wished to prevent the genocide of another species.

The man showed them schematics for a highly advanced transportation vessel, a ship his people had called the Ark. It had been his civilization's last plan for escape, but they had not managed to finish the creation in time to avoid the calamity that befell them. But, he argued, the Moon Tribe had the time his people had not. With their technology and his race's plans, they may yet be able to save the beings of the moon from the coming darkness.

With no viable alternatives available, work began on the great ship immediately. The skills of the tribe's greatest scientists and engineers went to work on constructing the vessel that would be their salvation, and the project became the tribe's greatest priority.

Each day, the people of Lumière Dorée woke fearing to hear the coming beast's roar, but to their surprise, it never came, and the ship was completed with time to spare. The Council prepared evacuation plans, and a voyage date was set. For a time, it seemed like the Moon Tribe would escape the coming doom.

If only their prophets had foreseen the coming betrayal.

The night before the newly built Ark was planned to depart, the dark figure known as Yami snuck into the center of the village. The people of the moon had served their purpose. Thanks to their creation, the demons now had a method of transportation, and soon, the universe would be covered by their darkness. It had taken thousands of years of slow travel through space, but at long last, his world of shadow was at hand.

Cackling to himself, the Dark Lord shifted into his sphere form, and a wave of pure darkness pulsed from his body, the world trembling with his power as he called the waiting demons into action.

From afar, eight piercing roars cried out in response.

Yoshitomo jumped from his slumber as the dark beast's roar sounded in the distance. The day his people had dreaded had come, just on the brink of their salvation. Grabbing his armor and blade, the warrior prepared for what would be his greatest battle.

He turned to his wife. "Gather our children, Tokiwa," he said, "Get them to the Ark. I shall rally the city guard and hold the beast off long enough for our people to escape."

The great warrior knew that not even he could slay the coming beast. Ushiwaka's visions never lied, no matter how terrible. But if his sacrifice could save his family, he would make it in a heartbeat.

Tokiwa ran towards the children's room, looking back at him with tears in her eyes. There was no time to argue, no time for extended goodbyes. "Je t'aime," she whispered to him in their native tongue.

Waka panicked as he heard the beast's roar, the screams of the city's terror around him. It was just as he had seen a year ago, but this time, there would be no waking up. There would be no end to this nightmare. On the other side of the room, Ishanari grabbed Kutone, preparing herself as best she could for the terrible night ahead.

Their mother ran in, grabbing their hands as she dragged them towards the back door. Ishanari cried after her father as he ran past them, charging out the front door towards the coming beast.

Orochi had wasted no time. Caught by surprise, most of the guards around the city walls had been easy prey. Already, the homes towards the edge of the city were crumbling to the ground as the serpent's flames razed the city.

As he approached the central courtyard of the city, the beast saw a tall warrior wielding two deadly katanas, a fearsome mask upon his head. Orochi's eight heads grinned in anticipation. His master had told him about this one, supposedly the Moon Tribe's greatest warrior.

The beast lunged towards his opponent. This was going to be fun.

Yoshitomo leapt to the side with blazing speed as one of the serpent's heads snapped its jaws where he had just been. Despite its size, the beast was fast. Certainly faster than anything the lunar warrior had faced in his lifetime.

Before he could counterattack, two more heads lunged at him, fangs gleaming silver in the moonlight. The man rolled away from the first, exiting into a backflip that landed him on top of the second. Roaring in anger, the monster's head shook, trying to knock off the warrior on top, but Yoshitomo had already left, leaping off his makeshift platform into a spinning strike aimed at another head's neck with strength that could've cut even the oldest tree clean in half.

To the warrior's surprise, however, his strike bounced off of the snake's hide, not even scratching his opponent. Chuckling at the attempt, the head lashed back at him, hitting the man in his side and sending him flying to the ground some distance away. Eyes thirsting with hunger, Orochi slowly approached his downed adversary.

Elsewhere in the city, Waka ran faster than he ever had in his life, frantically holding on to his mother's hand as they made way towards the escape vessel built for this very purpose. A bit ahead of them, Ishanari led the way, Kutone making short work of the lesser demons that tried to block their path.

The boy looked around him. To both sides, the homes and buildings that had once been there were now falling apart, dark flames blazing. He recognized some of the buildings, his friends' homes, and hoped that they had somehow made it out as well.

Ahead of them, the Ark waited to take them to safety, to get them away from the nightmare that had taken over their home. For a second, Waka's spirits lightened. Perhaps they would manage to escape. Perhaps his vision was wrong, and his family would yet live.

But his visions were never wrong.

A terrifying roar pierced the heavens and the eight-headed serpent landed in front of them, blocking off their escape route. The three froze, nowhere else to run, as sixteen crimson eyes glowed menacingly in the dark.

After what seemed like an eternity, the beast made its move, one head lunging towards Waka and his mother. Ishanari managed to dive out of the way in time, her warrior's reflexes acting on instinct. Waka and Tokiwa, however, did not have the same speed. With no time to do anything else, Tokiwa shoved her son to the side, trying to jump out of the way after him. Waka could only watch in horror as his mother vanished into the beast's jaws.

Next to him, an object landed with a small _thud_. Momentarily distracted, the youth grabbed it, looking at it in recognition. It was a mask, attached to an ornate headdress, shaped in the likeness of a hawk. Waka choked back tears as he recognized it as his father's.

As the boy sat in shock, another head lunged at him, eager to gobble up its easy prey. Mid-strike, it stopped, a yell of rage distracting it from it's quarry. Ishanari leapt at the beast with surprising courage, Kutone striking with blinding speed. She landed on the ground next to Waka, catching her breath.

The girl looked at her brother as Orochi roared out a challenge. "Ushiwaka," she whispered to him, "Run."

Waka hesitated. Abandoning his sister was the last thing the young prophet wanted to do. But the memory of his vision played in the back of his mind.

_One day, a dark beast will attack the Lunar Plain. Only one shall survive._

His sister again charged at the beast that had slaughtered their people, and in that moment, Waka ran. Behind him, the sounds of battle rang out as his sister held out bravely, but he didn't dare look back.

Finally, he reached the edge of the ship that would lead him to safety. As he climbed over it, he heard Ishanari cry out in pain. Something landed on the deck of the Ark with a sickening thud.

As Waka approached the controls of the ship, frantically pushing the ignition button that would take him away from this nightmare, he heard Orochi's triumphant roar.

Then, the engines of the vessel came to life, and the ravaged moon was behind him.

The adrenaline fading, the boy walked back to the main deck. Across the floor, he could see what had landed on the ship moments earlier. Ishanari's lifeless corpse, Kutone lying on the ground near her. Waka ran to her side and fell to his knees, tears coming in full force.

Above, the stars watched mournfully over the sobbing child. It had been just as the vision foretold. The Moon Tribe was gone.

He was the only one left.

The massive ship travelled for what seemed like days. Suddenly, Waka saw a glistening field in front of him, rapidly growing in size.

It was then that he realized he didn't know how to land.

On the Celestial Plain, a crowd of frightened Celestials and minor gods gathered around the massive creation that had crash-landed near the entrance to the gods' palace. Among them, a young girl, with hair white as snow, watched in interest. Her green eyes strained as she saw something move through the pillar of smoke that came from the broken machine.

Coughing and in pain, Waka stumbled out of the newly-created hole in the side of the Ark, falling to the beautiful field below. He did not have the strength to get up, so he simply laid there, crying softly.

He heard a couple gasps from the watching crowd as a small figure ran towards him.

Amaterasu ignored the crowd around her as she ran towards the boy. He was like nothing she had seen before - long, golden hair seemingly shimming in the light the same way her's did.

Reaching his side, she grabbed his hand in comfort.

"Don't worry," the sun goddess said, smiling with kindness, "You're safe now."

For some reason, Waka couldn't help but believe her.

* * *

><p>So that was a fun little story! For me, the moon and the Moon Tribe was one of the areas I really wanted answers to at the end of Okami. Who were they? Just how powerful had they been at the peak of their strength? Why did they disappear? And most of all, why did they build the Ark?<p>

Hopefully we'll get another Okami game someday that'll answer those questions, but for now, this is one way I envision it happening.

Capcom. Please. Make more Okami.

As always, constructive feedback is appreciated :)


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